Jerry Jeudy — Week 1: Four Targets Before Halftime, None After
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 14
Jeudy was thrown to four times Sunday, all before halftime: the second-and-five pass at the Jacksonville twenty-eight that Foyesade Oluokun intercepted, a short incompletion, a twenty-yard catch to midfield and a six-yarder on first and thirty. Two catches, twenty-six yards, minus six point one expected points on the targets, and none of Deshaun Watson's nine second-half throws went his way in a 34–10 loss to the Jaguars.
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Jerry Jeudy's first target of the season was the play that turned the game. First quarter, 12 17 left, second and five at the Jacksonville 28, scoreless, Cleveland's opening drive at the edge of field-goal range: Deshaun Watson short left, intended for Jeudy, intercepted by Foyesade Oluokun at the 19 and returned to the 41. −6.4 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 17 points of win probability gone in one throw. Jacksonville scored on the possession that followed and led for the rest of the afternoon.
The other three targets came in the second quarter with Cleveland already down 24 to nothing. Second and 10 at the Cleveland 46, four 52 left, short right, incomplete. First and 10 at the 30 with a minute 32 left, short left, 20 yards to midfield — his longest catch and the drive's best play. Then first and 30 from the 41, after a holding call, a false start and a delay of game had stacked up, six yards to the 47. Two catches, 26 yards, no touchdowns; the four targets came out at −6.1, and the two catches were worth about a point between them. The interception is the rest.
Cleveland threw 13 times before halftime, and four of those went to Jeudy — more than to any other Brown in the first half. After halftime Watson threw nine times: three to Denzel Boston, two each to KC Concepcion and Harold Fannin, one each to Raheim Sanders and Quinshon Judkins, none to Jeudy. Concepcion finished with five targets to Jeudy's four and Boston's four. 12 pass plays in the second half, including three sacks, and Jeudy's name is not on one of them.
Back in June the preview made no call on Jeudy, and the reason was split down the middle: the target volume — about six a game — had survived a bad season and was the kind of thing that carries, while yards per target, the half that had failed, was the half least likely to fix itself. Sunday the volume half showed up for 30 minutes and then stopped, and the efficiency half was an interception. One game, most of it played from four scores down, is not the season, but a silent second half is the thing to watch first. Cleveland is at the Buccaneers on Sunday the twentieth.
_Data via nflverse._
When Jerry Jeudy's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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